Westminster Management v. Smith

Summary

The court held that, for residential leases, “rent” under the summary-ejectment statute means the tenant’s fixed, periodic payment for use or occupancy, not every obligation that a lease labels as rent. It also held that the landlord’s payment-allocation clause unlawfully allowed payments of rent to be applied to non-rent obligations, and that a 5% late fee includes additional collection charges other than court-awarded costs. The court further held that the circuit court should have considered the merits of the tenants’ renewed class-certification motion because the amended claims, class definition, and evidence materially changed the circumstances, while the tenants’ request for summary judgment was unpreserved on appeal.